Prince Harry appears on the Time 100 Climate list of ‘influential climate leaders’

It’s that listicle time of year, when magazines start putting together their “best of” and “most influential” lists. Time Magazine has just released their Time 100 Climate list, as in “the 100 most influential leaders driving business to real climate action.” The list includes titans of business, world leaders, actors and… Prince Harry, founder of Travalyst. Harry came up with the idea for Travalyst more than a decade ago, but he ended up launching it in his final year as a “working royal” in 2019. When Harry divorced himself from the Windsors, Travalyst came with him. Travalyst is a stand-alone thing now, separate from Harry’s office in Archewell, but he still does a lot of work for and with Travalyst. Here’s Time Magazine’s rather lovely write-up (and you can see the full Time 100 list here):

The Duke of Sussex supports conservation groups in Africa and says he really became an environmentalist during a trip in 2012 to the Caribbean when a 7-year-old boy told him that England’s environmental impact was damaging the coral reefs. After that interaction, he was inspired to start Travalyst (“travel” and “catalyst”), a nonprofit that provides people booking travel with emissions data so they can consider the most sustainable options. The aim is to help make a dent to the industry’s carbon footprint; tourism makes up about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Travalyst worked with Google to create the Travel Impact Model, a free, publicly available methodology launched in 2022 that predicts per-passenger CO2 emissions produced by upcoming flights. Travalyst’s coalition of partners, representing a combined market value of $3 trillion, includes top tech companies used by tourists like Booking.com, Expedia Group, Mastercard, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor and Visa. On Sept. 12, Travalyst announced that its flight emissions data has appeared in 65 billion searches worldwide.

Prince Harry has stressed that sustainable travel also means travel that boosts local economies and supports tourism businesses that hire local talent. He summed up Travalyst’s mission at its fifth anniversary celebration on Sept. 24 during Climate Week: “As I sought solutions to some of the world’s most pressing conservation challenges, I quickly realized just how profound an impact the travel and tourism industry has…together we are proving that travel can be a force for good. So let’s continue this journey together and make sure that travel benefits everyone everywhere.”

[From Time]

One of the things I appreciate about Travalyst is that they’ve never tried to be a stand-alone thing, separate from the tourism industry. Like, you don’t have to go to some separate site to do your research on flights and pollution and what have you. By partnering with Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Visa, etc, Travalyst folded itself within the tourism and travel industry flawlessly to provide information where people are. It’s so smart and it really was one of Harry’s best ideas.

Is it also really funny that Harry made Time’s Climate 100 and Prince Keenshot did not? For sure. I can hear the incandescent rage from here.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Travalyst video.

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53 Responses to “Prince Harry appears on the Time 100 Climate list of ‘influential climate leaders’”

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  1. StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

    Excellent job Harry! I love this for Prince William – work harder for earthsht

  2. Elizabeth Kerri Mahon says:

    This is the difference between Prince Harry and Huevo. Huevo is all about embiggening himself, and Harry is all about doing good regarding climate change.

    • Kingston says:

      …and the hilarious thing about this is, its the RF raison d’etre; embiggening the monarch and heir-apparent is what they exist to do. So they will NEVER be able to compete with H&M, no matter how many times they colonize the words that are integral in describing who H&M are and how they live and have their being in the world. Words like: empathy; compassion; impact; community; etc.

    • Minnieder says:

      Oh Egg, you would be number on the list if the category was “most lazy heir” or “biggest scammer in the UK”. 🤣

  3. Tessa says:

    It should have been me. Peg screams

  4. Inge says:

    This made me laugh, from the Time website:
    To identify this year’s changemakers, TIME’s editors spent months vetting names from across the economy. We valued measurable, scalable achievements over commitments and announcements. We favored more recent action.

    did you spot it?

    We valued measurable, scalable achievements over commitments and announcements.

    being Keen doesn’t count!

    Well done Harry!

    • Christine says:

      Oh, how I rolled! Honestly, Harry being the real deal is just going to be more and more apparent as the years go by. There is no saving face for William, because he has no substance and never will.

  5. Jais says:

    I do appreciate travalysts focus on local tourism. Congratulations to them. I’m still unclear who won the earthshot prize and for what.

    • Friendly Crow says:

      Oh. That’s right! It happened? I think? Heidi Klum was there?

      I do wonder to what extent these ground breaking ideas are taken by “climate friendly investors” who then profit off of them while the actual inventor gets dust.

  6. sevenblue says:

    One of Harry’s strengths as a leader, he comes up with the idea, vision, but then hires professional men and women to execute it. He isn’t running around, playing know-it-all. That is why his projects are successful. Earthshot spends more money on presentation than the projects they are rewarding and all we see is Will and sometimes Kate, flying around the world for no reason.

    • UnstrungPearl says:

      I really wonder how long PW can keep it up before he gets bored/upset at the lack of recognition and hands over Earthshot to someone else. I can honestly see it being wound down in the next 5 years. The celebs involved will move on to something else (after getting the Honours of course).
      Its a shame bc these projects do need funding and under different management this could have been something with longevity, no wasteful awards show but real commitment!

      • Harla says:

        Earthshot was set up to only last 10 years but I do wonder if William will be able to hang on for another 5 years, although getting to travel worldwide on someone else’s dime probably helps.

      • Dee(2) says:

        I said the other day I wonder why the board of directors won’t force him to give a,”we’ve accomplished so much it’s time for me to step back” speech. He doesn’t bring anything to the organization, that’s organization itself couldn’t do on its own. If anything that he should copy from his brother, it’s going to lend his star power but have nothing to do with the day-to-day and to let other people ( with experience!) shine. His narcissism just won’t let him though, he has to be the smartest and best at everything.

      • sevenblue says:

        @Dee(2), does the board care? People funding the project are probably trying to get close to the future King, not that they care about the environment. Otherwise, they would interfere when Will didn’t invite the winners to the ceremony, but made Beckham fly from other side of the world.

      • Steph says:

        @dee(2) @sevenblue I’ve long suspected the reason we never hear of the winners is bc their ideas are being stolen. I think major corporations are taking their ideas and profiting off them or blocking them so they can’t sell. That’s why I think the board is silent. They couldn’t care less about the environment.

      • Jais says:

        So it’s only supposed to continue for 5 more years? Honestly, it’s once a year so it actually is something I think William can keep up. It’s only 5 more times😂. If it was meant to keep going beyond that then yeah I could see it being an issue. But maybe I’m giving him too much credit.

      • Anonymous says:

        Wasn’t Earthshot set up for 10 years? I just read somewhere it will give 5 more awards im the next 5 years and then? Silent death? No longer needed? Never had been any influential? Will knew already it won’t hold his interest for more than 10 years?
        We never hear about the awardees, their inventions/ideas/solutions and if they were marketed or implemented anywhere.

      • Christine says:

        You really have to love a passion project that only lasts 10 years. It’s hilarious when you stop and think about it.

        Contrasted with Harry and Invictus and him specifically saying they would love to see a day where there is no further need, but that is not the reality, and yeah…

    • Steph says:

      @sevenblue I’ve been saying the same thing for a while now. I think it’s the difference between how they where raised (heir vs spare) and their personalities. Harry doesn’t think he’s the best of the best but he’s fully aware of his connections. He uses that to hire the most qualified people instead of yes men. We saw a good example of that in Spare when he got the guy who managed the London Olympics to put together the first Invictus Games. I also think that’s one of the reasons he’s so attracted to Meghan. She’s very innovated in her charity work.

  7. Tina says:

    Seeing this yesterday was the first time I’ve laughed in a week. Well done Harry! Keep doing the work that is impactful.

  8. somebody says:

    That alone should say how much ES has actually accomplished. I wonder how many of the winners have gotten much at all, including the promised money.

  9. Fastgran50 says:

    Harry’s a caring person. He sent Scotty’s little soldiers who were marching on rememberance Sunday , individual wrapped bags of sweets to eat in case they got hungry. This was mentioned in a bbc interview on Sunday. The vast difference between Harry and the rest Harry cares, the rest just care about themselves

    • Inge says:

      That was a very sweet gesture but I think Meghan was involved in this too. They both care.

      Remember how upset Meghan was seeing children getting wet and she gave her umbrella away?

      • Jan says:

        I agree, Meghan floated the idea by Harry, then they did it.

      • Scorpion says:

        Once again fans claiming Meghan decides everything for Harry coz God knows Harry wouldn’t think of that himself. Obviously Meghan did! Another version of Meghan has all the brains and empathy.

        You are the reason why the crazies say Meghan leads Harry by the nose. You are.

    • Miranda says:

      Well whoever came up with the idea, it was a lovely thing to do! I’m glad to have a happy, wholesome bit of news these dark days.

    • swaz says:

      The rest/copycats will be giving sweets soon, maybe at kate christmas 🤣🤣

  10. Mightymolly says:

    He’s on here as a titan, no less, along with Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico and climate scientist.

    This list gives me so much hope. Maybe there’s a chance to continue the fight.

  11. TN Democrat says:

    Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Thank you good Prince Henry for all the good work you do. I think I can hear Willy screaming from his bachelor pad at KP. Has the Willy encouraged rota meltdown started yet? Hahahahahahahah. Earthshot, in theory, is a great idea, but poorly organized and executed. Too much of the money is spent boosting Willy’s fragile ego and the waste will eventually cause the entire charity to crash and burn.

  12. ThatGirlThere says:

    1. This is great and well earned by Harry
    2. Willy is gonna freak the f!ck out! 😂😂

    This proves that celebrities on green carpets are not the move and not what changes anything.

    • Julia says:

      The age of the celebrity influencing things seems to be coming to an end. You just need to look at the results of the US election. Celebrity endorsement didn’t move the needle. Harry and Meghan were wise not to rely on celebrities to gain attention for their work like the working royals but to focus on the work and making real, tangible change without fanfare.

  13. Mads says:

    That institution actively prevented Harry from achieving his full potential; they stifled any work ethic and/or ideas that would create a clear comparison between Harry and William, with William coming off as a lesser man.

    It’s a process that will be repeated with the Wales children and Kate is such a damn hypocrite to promote Early Years while raising her children in a toxic and unequal way.

  14. Nanea says:

    Great write-up by TIME.

    What they somehow forgot to mention, but what is a very important partner of Travalyst too — Amadeus, the market leader in software connecting the (airline, cruise lines) travel agencies, the pros. Accor, the second largest hotel operator worldwide (Fairmont, Novotel, Sofitel groups etc) is also part of the coalition.

    This has become huge, and very important and impactful.

    And they say Harry is the dumb one. And that Harry bought his place on the list. And that they are boycotting TIME and whatnot.

  15. Amy Bee says:

    Good for him. I think he’s really coming into his own now.

    • Hypocrisy says:

      Me too.. I am trying to be a smart traveler 🧳 and travelyst is a great tool to use. Used right this gives those of us who aren’t familiar with how to get and understand the data a place to turn to so we can make good choices. It’s global and comparing it to 🌎💩is laughable… the Lamborghini being chased by a fiat reference comes to mind. I truthfully think it’s an insult to Prince Harry and the Sussex’s to be compared to him or his wife and their vanity projects. What a wonderful honor and well deserved Prince Harry.

  16. Lili says:

    Congrats Harry! Just being out there doing the work. And also Congrats to Sadiq Khan London’ Mayor and also to the others on the list keep up the good work

  17. Libra says:

    Turning Earthshot over to Harry makes sense in a world where nothing now makes sense.

  18. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    Way to go girl dad!

  19. Charlie says:

    One up by your younger brother again?!

  20. Joanne says:

    The egg has cracked. Well done Harry!

  21. QuiteContrary says:

    A truly impressive honor for a truly impressive guy.

  22. tamsin says:

    Sustainability connected to helping local economies so that travel can be a “force for good” is very impressive. Harry is trying to make his life a “force for good” and prayers for protection for Harry and his family and all who work with him.

  23. phlyfiremama says:

    Yayy Harry!!! I have actually been looking into alternative power systems and have discovered: corporate America is ACTIVELY PREVENTING us from learning about these systems, being able to make it financially out of reach, and failing to develop/utilize adequate sustainable grids. Vertical stacked Solar panels, for example, are 125% more efficient than horizontal plane panels. Vertical axis wind turbines show great promise (Android Jones) , with minimal wind present. Sustainability, folks!! For women looking for a new occupation, this could be a ground floor possibility: the demand will only grow, and being educated on electrical systems will become a highly sought after skill set in the coming years.

  24. L4Frimaire says:

    Congratulations Harry and Travalyst! I’m glad they’re being recognized. I also like that they focus on ways to have tourism to benefit local people and businesses. They also got a shoutout in Conde Nast Traveler. Remember when he first launched it and someone tried to sabotage it, so glad they are stronger and getting recognition. Real change. Well done!

  25. blunt talker says:

    Harry was suppose to play the role of dummy while working for the monarchy-Damn somebody needs to go to the tower for this enormous mistake-this project is a wonderful way to help the environment and help local enconomies-Terrific work Harry-May God continue to bless and keep you and your family safe.